MLB The Show 23: Diamond Dynasty Year in Review

[Steve_OS]

Spring training is on the horizon, which means we’re ever closer to the release of MLB...

Written By: Cory Dell

Click here to view the article.

[JoshC1977]

Random musings (and I'll add that I mostly agree with the article)

Personally, I would like to see a drastic overhaul to the entire paradigm of DD for this year's game. The whole "play with this card you don't want to use to earn another card you don't want to use to finally earn one you might want to use" has gotten incredibly old. I'd really like to see an agenda-based approach where you can earn new cards via broader missions (vs card-specific missions). Everything about the mode has gotten sterile and formulaic at this point and I think they need broad-sweeping changes in terms of HOW you earn your cards throughout the year. I think it's time that the mode gets back to its roots of the MLBTS18 (and older) era and re-embrace agenda-based mission goals vs an over-reliance on contrived "content" like moments. You should be using your team AT ALL TIMES when engaging this mode...that's what is fun, seeing how many missions you can be working on at one time....you're working on none with Moments.

I'm going to hammer this point every year too - we need a REAL mode for offline players that is built around 9 inning games. Playing random "Play vs CPU" games is what it is; but the key word there is "random". There's no real reason to engage in them (we've had only 2 or 3 missions all year that required playing a vs CPU game) and frankly, they're pretty dull when even a beginner DD team will out-class any live series team. They've missed an opportunity to do this by mimicking the (rather tired) 3-inning format of Conquest in the Mini Seasons mode. The strategies needed in 3 inning games vs 9 inning games vary considerably - and when all you give players is 3 inning crap, it gets monotonous.

I've got loads to say about the content but tbh, I think that they're going to have to modify (heavily) this year's approach. But two things stand out to me:

- dial-down the number of 99s (considerably) - it's embarrassing to see people cry about a 97 overall - talk about entitlement - and that is all SDS' fault for pushing 99s so hard (when you don't need them)!
- make sub-Diamond cards relevant again

I'll stop there, lol....

[ValhallaVikings]

I started DD bc of covid. I feel like I've played a little less with each passing year and I'm not sure if it's the game or just life.

My complaints before this year was I'd spend so much time earning cards and then by the time I earned them a new fancier card came out so I'd start grinding for that one. I never really had time to play ranked or p5 cards I liked because it was time to move to the next card almost the day I earned the previous card.

This year I kept Jeter in the lineup the whole year which was cool but I think it's just the busy work programs were a SLOG for a Ken griffey Sr that I'll never use... It's like all the offline missions earned us cards that were generally worse on paper than what we already had.

I don't really know what I want from DD. I think I would like more 9 inning online game options that didn't count towards a record. I prefer 9 inning games with the laid back nature of events/hof.

I didn't like or dislike the sets. Set 3 was definetly the peak of my interest outside of opening week.

I'm kind've over showdown now too. I feel like I can breeze thru most the time and then you run into like a cardinals defense that catches every line drive in the outfield and you have to start over like 30 mins spent for absolutely nothing. Maybe just avoid having to restart would be nice.... I think most of us are doing showdown for progress and not fun and I don't want to spend anymore time in this then I have to and I kinda do feel like I have to to make program progress

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by ValhallaVikings

I think most of us are doing showdown for progress and not fun

Bingo! (and I'd argue the same goes for moments)

And if something in a mode is not "fun" - that's a problem.

[JMDurron]

Agree on the Showdowns being purely for progress, not for fun. The lack of PXP being earned with the cards plus the whole thing being all-or-nothing combine to make the mode a high-risk chore.

I actually enjoy the moments, though. Particularly the Topps Now ones that cover ongoing events during the regular season. Particularly when my team stinks in real life, that’s almost the only exposure I get to real MLB events as I focus on my fake/fantasy team in MLBTS over the sad, real edition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[848]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

Random musings (and I'll add that I mostly agree with the article) Personally, I would like to see a drastic overhaul to the entire paradigm of DD for this year's game. The whole "play with this card you don't want to use to earn another card you don't want to use to finally earn one you might want to use" has gotten incredibly old. I'd really like to see an agenda-based approach where you can earn new cards via broader missions (vs card-specific missions). Everything about the mode has gotten sterile and formulaic at this point and I think they need broad-sweeping changes in terms of HOW you earn your cards throughout the year. I think it's time that the mode gets back to its roots of the MLBTS18 (and older) era and re-embrace agenda-based mission goals vs an over-reliance on contrived "content" like moments. You should be using your team AT ALL TIMES when engaging this mode...that's what is fun, seeing how many missions you can be working on at one time....you're working on none with Moments. I'm going to hammer this point every year too - we need a REAL mode for offline players that is built around 9 inning games. Playing random "Play vs CPU" games is what it is; but the key word there is "random". There's no real reason to engage in them (we've had only 2 or 3 missions all year that required playing a vs CPU game) and frankly, they're pretty dull when even a beginner DD team will out-class any live series team. They've missed an opportunity to do this by mimicking the (rather tired) 3-inning format of Conquest in the Mini Seasons mode. The strategies needed in 3 inning games vs 9 inning games vary considerably - and when all you give players is 3 inning crap, it gets monotonous. I've got loads to say about the content but tbh, I think that they're going to have to modify (heavily) this year's approach. But two things stand out to me: - dial-down the number of 99s (considerably) - it's embarrassing to see people cry about a 97 overall - talk about entitlement - and that is all SDS' fault for pushing 99s so hard (when you don't need them)! - make sub-Diamond cards relevant again I'll stop there, lol....

Great post. Agree 100%. They should bring back team epics from 17, at least. Or like you suggest, something similar to mini seasons with 9 inning games instead of 3.

[JMDurron]

Agree that 9 inning Miniseason games would be a great option, especially for an offline-only player like myself. Would like to play full games with my DD squad(s) against something other than MLB standard rosters, at least when I’m not grinding for program progress.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sbmnky]

This is about the time I head back to OS for a DD recap - it's like catching up with old friends.

Cory - thanks for your article. I'd be curious on a follow up to your competitive mode article now that's it been 2 game cycles since you wrote it.

Below are my notes - keep in mind, I mostly play DD online in competitive modes

Content

• Too many repeated cards with similar rating - I'm looking at you Schwarber, Harper, and Ohtani!
• Rating progression throughout the year is fun - let's go back to ratings creep
• Keep 99s to the collections and end of the year cards. Let the rewards ratings creep up and leverage captains to make them relevant throughout the year (see Captain notes below)

Gameplay

• Gameplay was balanced this year, but online gameplay can change from game to game based on connection; I hope this is addressed
• Great addition making tasks online or offline
• I would like pitcher confidence to be removed from online game mode or adjusted - it shouldn't impact the batter's EV or probability of a hit
• Moments and Showdowns feel like chores where I'm only completing them to make progress within a program

Sets & Seasons

• I was hopeful for seasons because I thought they would be team building themed. But themes were just card types which was dull and repetitive
• Sets was a cool idea, but it caused too many repeat cards (my biggest gripe of the year) yet we only got one 99 Lou Gehrig (did they lose his rights? Hope not, especially with the MLB 4ALS campaign)

Online Mode

• I echo the need to have multiple competitive 9 inning game modes. One where the player can choose any card to use (typical ranked) and the other that has roster restrictions (a Live Series only league would be fun). Maybe ranked is open for two week and themed for the other two week - rinse and repeat throughout the year. Or maybe DD needs to start a weekend league (I don't have a deep understanding of how they work), but qualifying for better rewards sounds challenging
• Stricter card restrictions for Events. Not just team overall, but limits on card overall or specific attributes - bring back silver card theme, Live Series, and Low Power (Dead-Ball) events
• BR is fine - still my least favorite competitive mode

Captains

• Cool idea, too bad it wasn't adjusted throughout the year to be used as a testing ground for '24
• Too many OP and overpriced captains (Cal & Rollins)
• Remove Captain glitch so that Captain has to be used in the line up to take advantage of its boost. Also let the Captain get its own boost
• Best time to use Captains IS NOW when every card is available. For example, I've starting to copy a streamer I watch by using themed hitting and pitching captains (Twins Captain hitter and Angels Captain pitcher). This has been fun and allows all sets to be used - in the Twins theme I used, I used 3 different sets for a competitive team. That wouldn't have worked with the 2 concurrent sets limitation
• In a discord I'm in, there was a proposal to make all sets available if using a Captain. I like this idea in its current format, although it will contradict my throught below (just wanted to shout out the idea if Captains don't receive a major overhaul)
• Maybe another way to make Captains more useable is make the boost higher to earlier captains. For example, Set 1 captains give a huge boost to cards because Set 1 cards have lower ratings, but Set 1 captains can only be used for Sets 1 & 2 throughout the game cycle. Set 2 captains give a slightly lower boost for Set 1, Set 2, and Set 3 cards because Sets 2 & 3 have better ratings than Set 1 cards - Set 2 Captains can only be used for Sets 1 -3. Repeat this process until the final set Captain has the lowest boost, because the final set cards will have the best ratings. Live Series captains have the biggest boost because most LS cards are too low to be used in competitive games (what happened to the Live series events?)